HUGUENOT
FREERS

This web page has been made possible through the generousity of
Teresa Wilson (nee: Freer) of Texas whom has traced her ancestors to Hugo Freer (the Patentee) who was born in
France and made his way to what is now New Paltz, New York. This
information given here is from Terri's research and is placed here in the
hopes that it might aid others in tracing their roots.

The HUGO FREER HOUSE -- 1694
- 1735

Built on "The Street of the Huguenots,
New Paltz, N.Y. it is constructed in two sections. The North End by Hugo
Freer, The Patentee, in 1694 and the South Portion Addition by
Johannes M. Low in 1735. The Wooden Section was added in the late
Eighteenth Century (drawing by John Gould).

HISTORY OF THE FREER HOMESTEAD

It is believed that the north end of the house was built by Hugo
Freer, the Patentee, as early
as 1694. A bill of sale definitely established it in his possession before 1706. The two windows on
the north and one on the west are original. The door was located at the second west window -
note the difference in the heights of the windows. An outside door is blocked over in the center of
the south wall of the living room.

The projecting beams would indicate that originally this room had a hood fireplace like that at
the Jean Hasbrouck Memorial House. A small mantel-piece held candles, so soot marks are still
visible on the beams. The south section was probably added during the 1720's, and contained a
hall and a single large room. The fire-place is now blocked over. The so-called "dark
bedroom" was the result of dividing the large room into hall, bath, and bedroom. One of
the attic windows on the south wall is original. The one to the west was converted from a door
used to bring up the hay into the loft. The wooden lean-to was added about the time of the
Revolution A cobbler's shop was located therein at the southeast corner,
now the study.

OWNERS OF THE HOUSE

I. HUGO FREER, the Patentee, born in Normandy; died New Paltz
1698; married
1st MARIE de la HAYE who died 1666; married 2nd JEANNE WIBAU.

II. HUGO FREER, Sr. , born Palatinate 1666, died 1732; married 6-7-1690
MARIA ANNA LEROY. Released this property and other lands to his 13 children in 1732. The
stone house went to his daughter:

III. REBECCA FREER, bp. 12-4-1715; married 1-19-1735 JOHANNES LOUW,
bp. 1-23-1715. It was inherited about 1765 by their son

IV SIMEON LOUW, born 1747; died 1815; married CHRISTINA
McMULLEN

V MOSES FREAR obtained the house by Executor's deed dated 6-7-1828 in B. D.
34/447 at a consideration of $1000 including a 4 acre parcel. I believe this is Moses, the son of
Elias Frear & Maria VanKleeck, born 8-10-1802, died 11-7-1873; married JANE DuBOIS.
He was a blacksmith, who later moved east of the village.

VI. ABIGAIL L. TELLER wife of STEPHEN TELLER, purchased 3 parcels of
land from Moses Frear including the 4 acres & homestead on April 6, 1837, B. D. 49/51 for
the sum of $2000. Foreclosure of a mortgage resulted in sale to

VII. BENJAMIN VanWAGENEN, by deed April 14, 1842, B. D. 59/282, for the
sum of $521 for the 3 parcels. He and his wife Catherine sold to

VIII. ANDRIES DuBOIS, by deed 8-1-1845, B. D. 64/52, for the sum of $1953.
He was the son of Andries DuBois and Sarah LeFevre, and he married Elizabeth LeFevre. He
died in 1849 and his heirs sold to

IX. SAMUEL D. W. MOREY, by deed April 3, 1850, B. D. 79/210. His wife was
related to this branch of the DuBois family. They sold to

X. LEVI DuBOIS, son of Jonathan DuBois & Maria Deyo. He died in 1893
leaving the house to his brother

XI. LEWIS DuBOIS, who married ABBIE MOREY . He died intestate in 1909
leaving as sole heir, his daughter

XII. ANNIE M. DuBOIS, who threw herself into the well of the homestead
7-14-1931, dying intestate. A long partition action ensued, following which the old house and 1/2
acre were sold to

XIII MARGARET A. JAMISON, by deed July 1, 1932, B. D. 560/44. She was
niece and heir to the Arbuckle Estate and her death brought about the founding of the Jamison
Memorial Fund which has been of great importance in the preservation of Huguenot Street . The
homestead and 1/2 acre were purchased from her estate by

HUGUENOT STREET...Oldest Street in
America

In 1677, the Duzine ("Twelve Men") united by religious and family
ties, purchased a large tract of land from the Esopus Indians on terms
of such generousity and mutal respect as to guarantee to the Patentees
the peaceful home which they had sought through years of exile from their
native France. They named their lands for the temporary refuge they had
found in "die Pfalz", the Rhine-Palatinate.

By 1692 they began to replace the original log huts with sturdy
stone dwellings which today constitute the oldest street in the United
States with its original houses. The first one-room houses were enlarged
as the next generation grew and prospered, but for over 250 years, five
of the six original houses remained virtually unchanged and occupied by
descendants of the builders.

Through the efforts of the Huguenot Historical Society, New Paltz,
N. Y. and its family associations, these houses are maintained as a
unique historic site...and a National Historic Landmark.
(From a Brochure - "Huguenot Street" by the
Huguenot Historical Society)

************************************

[The following is general information on New Paltz and the
Huguenot Society. The web page author does not agree with
the use of certain terms in reference to groups but leaves
these terms in place indicated by [sic] to maintain the integrity of the article.
Word usage reflects the time period in which it was written not the present day. -
web author]

*************************************

THE FOUNDING OF NEW PALTZ

By 1660 the Huguenot refugees, Louis DuBois, Antoine Crispell, and
Mattys Blanchan had already built homes at the "Nieuw Dorp" (Hurley).
The Dutch settlers of Wiltwyck (Kingston) had made them welcome, and yet they
felt alien. Their whole way of life was different. The Dutch were interested
above all in the Indian trade - the French dreamed only of quiet farms.
The very religious tolerance of their hosts became irksome. They were all followers of Calvin, but
in what a different fashion!.

Most important was their differing attitude toward the Esopus Indians who were their
neighbors. The Dutch traders, with or without the assistance of "firewater", were
quick to take advantage of the [sic] savages. They expected to make money from them, they
considered them mere animals, but were swift to punish when these same animals did not follow
white men's ways. The whole series of skirmishes known as the Esopus Wars had a simple
be-ginning. The naive Indians had graciously granted the new settlers hunting rights in the
territory, just as a modern farmer might post his land for the benefit of the local gun club. The
paltry presents received from the Dutch were merely evidence of neighborliness and good faith,
certainly not a sale price. In fact, an individual Indian could not sell land, because the tribes owned
everything in common. He could merely grant life rights to hunt, fish and farm the land.

Little frictions grew up because the Indians had no understanding of property rights and
boundary lines. Nor, unfortunately, were they acquaint-ed with domestic animals. A cow was
killed, and immediately the Dutch captured twelve of the finest young braves and sold them as
slaves in Barbados. It is hardly surprising that the Indians retaliated. Even so, they sought many
times to ransom their young men before they turned to violence.

On June 7, 1663, while the men were working in the fields, the Esopus tribes fell on the
"New Village". Hardly so much as a hayrick was left standing and 29 women and
children were carried into captivity. Among them were the families of Louis DuBois and Antoine
Crispell.

For months the bereaved husbands and fathers, reinforced by Capt. Martin Kregier and his
soldiers from New Amsterdam, sought for the captives, but in vain. On July 31st they found the
Indian fort near Wawarsing and burned its triple palisades and the cornfields around them; but
alas, [sic] savages and captives were gone into the mountains.

Finally, on September 5th, they located the New Fort, a 15-foot palisade not yet completed,
near the Shawangunk Kill in the Hogabergh area be-hind the present village of Wallkill. Tradition
tells the tale of Basha, the squaw piling wood near the spring which bears her name, who was shot
by Louis DuBois before she could give the alarm.

Legend also tells that the Indians, angry at the failure of their attempts to secure the release
of their braves from slavery in Barbados, had determined to put their victims to death - that
Catrina DuBois had already been tied to the stake and the faggots placed - but that intrepid lady,
her faith rising, above her fears, lifted her head and sang the 137th Psalm, "By the waters of
Babylon". Her clear voice charmed the Indians, so the story goes, into delaying the burning.
More important, it served as a guide through the woods for her husband and the soldiers. The
surprise was complete, the fighting was sharp. The Indians lost their chief and 21 killed. 13 others
were taken prisoner, while Capt. Kregier lost 3 killed and 6 wounded. But the prisoners were
released unharmed. It was on the return journey that Louis DuBois had the opportunity to note
fertile plains of the Wallkill Valley and his dream was born. He had passed that way before, had
killed an Indian scout near the present Libertyville with his own sword, but only now could he
appreciate the beauty of these fields guarded by the "Great Wall" of the
Shawangunks. As he continued to live in Hurley his dream grew - a French settlement where they
could at last find permanent refuge, but could also retain their language, their customs, and their
religion. When the young LeFevre brothers, Simon and Andre, arrived in Kingston, they quickly
fell in with his dream, but it was not for 8 or 10 years until the arrival of the Hasbrouck brothers,
the Beviers, the Freers, and the Deyos, that it seemed possible of fulfillment, and it was Abraham
Hasbrouck who made it a reality.

After leaving the Rhein-Pfalz where the Huguenot families had found temporary refuge,
Abraham had served for a time with the English army and had earned the friendship of Edmund
Andros. By 1675, the English government had replaced the Dutch, New Amsterdam had become
New York, and Edmund Andros was governor of the colony. Abraham spoke for the little group
and out-lined their plans, and in April, 1677, he gained permission for his friends to make their
attempt .

The history books have long given credit to William Penn as being the first colonizer to deal
justly with the Indians and thus earn peace for his settlement. Penn received his huge grant in
1681, and then, a year later, to stop further difficulty with the natives, he made a treaty purchase
with the Indians confirming his title.

This was certainly no bargain by Dutch standards ($24 worth of trinkets for Manhattan) but
how well these Huguenots were rewarded! They built the "Redoute" required by the
governor, but never, even during the troubled Revolutionary period, was this settlement in danger
of attack.

Only after the Indians were paid, as acknowledged on September 15th by 19 braves and 2
women of the Esopus, who thus confirmed the action of their chiefs for their families, did the
Walloons sue for a grant from the king, given under the hand of Edmund Andros on September
29, 1677. These old deeds, the first record of a truly honest purchase of land from the Indians, are
still to be seen at the museum.

The eleven families: Louis DuBois and his sons Isaac and Abraham, Christian Deyo and his
son Pierre, Simon LeFevre and his brother Andre, Hugo Freer, Louis Bevier, the brothers Jean
and Abraham Hasbrouck, (Antoine Crispell remained in Hurley) loaded all their possessions upon
three ox-carts ("tri-cor") and proceeded to their new home. If this particular tradition
were true, the ox-carts must have made more than one trip, judging by the many relics which
survive .

Warned by friendly Indians of spring floods on the west side of the river, the Patentees built
their log cabins along the east bank, on what is now the south end of Huguenot Street. They
established their combined church and schoolhouse at the north edge of the little burying ground,
but the land itself was owned in common. The first sale of land to an individual was in 1693,
although four years earlier, the first schoolmaster, Jean Cottin, had received the gift of a house
and lot.

As the settlement prospered and the log cabins were replaced by stone dwellings a bit further
north, which still testify to the superiority of the old-time methods of construction, the settlers
were granted homestead lots, but the farm lands remained in common under the control of
"The Duzine", a council made up of representatives of each of the 12 original
Patentees. At first position on the Duzine was hereditary, but with the growth of the village and
the influx of Dutch families, it became advisable to elect these officers from the whole colony. It
was not until 1728 that the Duzine authorized the allotment of the first lands to individual
ownership. This was done not by deed, but by parole, the "twelve men signing a
bond for the protection of title to these tracts, as recorded in the minute books of The Duzine.
The last allotment was made only shortly before the Revolution, and one of the first actions of the
new State government was to ratify the acts of this most democratic governing body in colonial
history.

There were no really famous citizens of New Paltz, but the story of these simple farmers and
merchants is an unparalleled record of justice, dignity and fair dealing toward each other and
toward their neighbors, white and red, which might well be of even greater inspiration today than
is found in the exploits of those whom the history books call heroes.

For over 70 years the Huguenot
Historical Society, New Paltz, N. Y., Inc. has been dedicated
to the preservation of the Oldest Street in America with its original houses". Huguenot
Street has been designated by the Dept. of Interior as a national Historic Landmark Area. The
Jean Hasbrouck Memorial House has recently been cited by the same group as the finest example
in this country of medieval Flemish stone architecture. This house has been a museum since
1898.

In the past twelve years, six other stone houses on Huguenot Street have come under control
of the Society. Together they make up a unique historic site, an educational experience for this
and future generations, and a monument to the integrity, industry, and independence of the
founders. Family associations have been formed within the Society, each to maintain its individual
homestead and to furnish it with heirlooms cherished by generations of descendants. Membership
in either the Society or the family group is open to anyone who is interested in their
objectives.

TheFreer-Low Family
Association was founded in 1962 and now has a membership
of over 250. Their hope is that the Freer Homestead will be opened in the near future as a
museum. Founding officers were: Frank Freer, Jr., President; Claude E. Simmonds and Harold M.
Lows, Vice-Presidents; Mrs. J. Leigh Sheridan, Secretary, and Walter Hasbrouck, Treasurer.

During the summer of 1967, the Society inaugurated a program of guided tours of Huguenot
Street daily except Monday. Thousands of school children, as well as descendants from all parts
of the country, visit the ancient Street of the Huguenots each year.

Below is a partial reconstruction of Hugo Freer, the Patentee's,
family history(based upon Terri Wilson's Research).

****************

Note: This list below does not include names of all individuals
associated with the Hugo Freer linneage, only those related to Terri Wilson;
however, there may be names below that will help others in their
research.

FIRST GENERATION

Hugo Freer (the Patentee) was born at Harly, now spelled Herly, a
tiny village in the district of Haut Boulonnois, 20 miles SE of Boulogne,
25 miles SW of Hazebrouck, in Normandy, France. He moved to Mannheim
(Germany) in the province of Die Pfalz on the Rhine River around
1651.

Hugo married Marie de la Haye of Douai (France) at Mannheim
10-02-1660. They had a daughter Marie born 09-13-1661, a daughter Sara born
01-22-1664, and a son Hugo born 07-01-1666. Marie and both daughters died
in the Great Plaque of 1666. Hugo then married Jeanne (Jannetje) Wibau
(also spelled Verbeau) of Bruyelle who was the widow of Simon Floquet on
01-22-1667. One year later a son died in infancy. A son Abraham was born
on 06-16-1670 and a son Isaac born 02-20-1673. Hugo Freer, the Patentee,
died in New Paltz in 1698. Jeanne died 12-08-1693. Both are buried in
the Walloon Cemetery on Huguenot Street, New Paltz, but the headstones
have disappeared.

SECOND GENERATION

Hugo Freer, Sr. was born 1666 in Mannheim, died 1732 at New Paltz.
He married Maria Anna LeRoy, born 05-07-1673 in Quebec, daughter of Simeon
LeRoy and Claude Deschalets. They were married 06-07-1690.

Their children were:

* Hugo Freer, Jr. born 10-14-1691 at New Paltz

Isaac 05-21-1693

Simon 06-09-1695

Mary 05-05-1696

Sara 05-15-1698

Esther 10-15-1699

Jonas 1701

Catrina 1703 (doubtful)

Blandina 07-04-1703

Johannes 04-15-1705

Benjamin 10-21-1706

Rachel 11-10-1710

Jannetjen 01-27-1713

Rebecca 12-04-1715

Elizabeth 04-12-1718

THIRD GENERATION

Hugo Freer, Jr. was born 10-14-1691 at New Paltz. He was married
04-24-1715 to Brejen Terpening, born in Minisink but lived in Rosendale,
daughter of Jan Terpening of Flanders. They lived in Bontecoe.

Their children were:

Johnannes 1715

Hugo 1717

Annatjen 1718

Maria 1721

Elizabeth 1723

Johannes 1726

*Gerrit 1727

Zara 1729

Jannetjen 1733

Benjamin 1735

FOURTH GENERATION

Gerrit Freer, baptized in Kingston 04-30-1727;
married on 03-14-1748 to Maria Freer, had been
baptized 09-21-1729.

Their children were:

Hugo 1749

Jonas 1752

Catharine 1753

*Ezekiel 1756

Maria 1759

Brechie 1762

Elsje 1764

Martynus 1767

Gerritt 1770

Margaret 1773

FIFTH GENERATION

Ezekiel Freer born 04-17-1756, died 03-07-1821.
He was married on 11-1784 to Elizabeth Sluiter, born
1763.

Their children were:

*Ezechiel 1785

Gerret E. 1789

Jonas 1795

Samuel 1801

Elizabeth 1805

SIXTH GENERATION

Ezechiel Freer, born 07-05-1785, died 07-17-1841. Married Esther
Vaan Wagenen, born 06-07-1788, died 04-17-1854; daughter of Daniel Van
Wagenen and Tryntje Low.

Their children were:

Sally 1807

Ezekiel 1809

Anne E. 1811

Maurice W. 1815

*Gerrit E. 1818

Daniel 1822

Maria J. 1830

Elmira 1833

SEVENTH GENERATION

Gerrit E. Freer, born 1818, married Catherine Beaver.

Their children were:

Cornelius 10-06-1847

John 03-17-1852

Dubois B. 05-17-1855

EIGHTH GENERATION

Cornelius H. Freer, born 10-06-1847 (family record) or 10-06-1848
(tombstone) or 10-26-1847, baptized 10-06-1848 at Lloyd Methodist Church,
died 02-16-1911. Married 01-01-1868 to Margaret Clinton, Born
09-10-1847, died 10-11-1905, daughter of Charles Clinton and Alice
McCur.

Their children were:

Alice C. 1868

Emma J. 1870

Dubois F. 1872

Mary A. 1876

Abram C. 1878

Charles J. 1879

Hattie C. V. 1882

Cornelius 1885

For further information on this Freer family I would suggest
that you contact Christina Zahn below.